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For all that Hanagaki Takemichi is a known figure amongst the closer knit of Toman members- the founders and captains to be precise, they rarely ever had the opportunity to hang out with him.
He's known as Baji's bossom buddy- as he tells it, Mrs. Baji and Mrs. Hanagaki were platonic soulmates but had every intention of having their pups fall in love at one point, like one of those romantic childhood to lovers tropes, except Baji and Takemichi never seemed inclined for that at all. Even after they've presented into their secondary genders, nothing changed. There was no momentual shift in their friendship nor a creeping revelation of any sort. All Baji saw was his annoying crybaby yet endearing friend and all Takemichi saw was his scarily wild yet reliable friend. Though, Baji had moments of kindness and caring gestures, Takemichi only felt like a pup being handled by an older brother.
That brotherly affection couldn't be warped into anything else. If an imprint existed for platonic mates than that was what it was. Takemichi could not see his Kei-chan as anything else, it was revolting to imagine, even though he had fun making jokes about it because everyone and their mother seemed to believe they were a thing or would become a thing. Baji was actually dense about the whole fuss. The alpha would puff up with pride at every insinuation because it came off as praise and the attention to their friendship caused him to preen.
He didn't understand that underneath, 'oh look how close they are,' was a, 'they're inevitably going to be mates.'
Takemichi realized that arguing against it only made people believe it more for whatever reason, so he decided it wasn't worth the effort anymore.
And then Baji joined a dojo and made other friends.
That's when Toman eventually comes into the equation.
The founders have all heard stories about Michi before they ever even met him, and already gained their own impressions. And from the way Baji would not shut up about his childhood friend/omega, everyone else made assumptions too while they imagined what type of omega their unhinged friend had seemed to be a little too sweet on even if he was complaining about how weak Michi's punches were.
"I had to pretend to be knocked out or else he would've cried," Baji had said on one occasion in exasperation but there was a fond look on his face. This omega was special to him. And if anyone else wanted to poke fun at this omega because of how ridiculous the boy sounded in Baji's stories then they'd get punched in the face with the 100% Baji Keisuke special. The one when he didn't hold back a single bit and his hair was tied up in a pony tail.
So the reason as to why none of them have met Hanagaki Takemichi sooner was because they were either too intimidated to ask or Baji would change the topic.
With how possessive he seemed, of course everyone would believe that Baji had possibly imprinted on this omega.
Except, they were proven wrong on many occasions.
Their first meeting with Takemichi had been during a beach visit. They'd taken their bikes to go hang out at the local beach, and Baji had brought along his childhood friend. A small boy with a huge presence, especially since he was causally sticking to Baji's side. And there was a wide smile on his cute face when everyone stared at him.
"I'm supposed to babysit him," was the only introduction that Baji gave before he shoved the omega to Draken. "Stay close to him. He's the only one I can trust around you."
"....."
Offense was brewing inside of everyone except for Draken who seemed to be getting taller by the second.
"I'm Draken," the alpha said politely, trying to continue his good first impression.
"I'm Takemichi!" The omega said with a cheeky grin and he poked Draken in the stomach. "Wow, you're as strong as you look! Please take me on as your student, Kei-chan doesn't teach me shit. He just wants to fight everyone so I don't get to have any of the fun."
Then he shamelessly started to climb on Draken's back like a spider monkey. "You're so tall! I wanna see how the world looks from this height!"
Clingy. Talkative.
But Adorable.
Everyone seemed to reach the same assessment at the end.
That's just not fair. Baji, what did you do to deserve this-
The others were envious but Baji was oblivious as he started to run towards the ocean. Meanwhile, Draken had a very good time, he was practically beaming, easily talking to the omega like they were old friends. Kazutora had abandoned his magazine to stare at Takemichi the whole time. The pink hue on his face wasn't from the sun either. He'd applied heavy sun block, Baji had made sure of it. Mitsuya was trying to be discrete as he joined the conversation, growing endeared by the bubbly boy, while Mikey seemed to be bored and ran after Baji.
There was too many people surrounding Takemichi already so he didn't want to waste time he could spend having fun.
Pah-chin was the one who broke apart the crowd at last by roaring, "Come on, let's swim, Takemichi!"
(Oi, oi, where did you come from? Go away!)
But Takemichi had been successfully distracted as he excitedly followed the alpha to the ocean and soon everyone else followed too. What happened was a tug of war battle in the water with people trying to drag Takemichi off in all sorts if directions to focus on them but in the end it was Draken that captured most of his attention. The omega just seemed to think that Draken was the coolest person so he naturally followed the alpha around.
By the time they had to go home, though when the sky started to darken and the beach became scarce of people, Takemichi seemed to have the biggest crush on Draken. How did everyone come to this conclusion?
Well, Takemichi had openly declared, "I wanna be mates when we grow up! You're so strong and cool, and I know our pups would be the cutest and strongest! They can grow up and beat Kei-chan for me!"
What kind of logic- the more reasonable ones- Mitsuya and even Draken, though he was blushing a little, had sweatdropped.
No, did he just say he wanted to mate Draken right in front of Baji?!
They all looked at the long haired alpha but Baji didn't look angry or betrayed. He just rolled his eyes.
"If you can't beat me on your own then it doesn't count. How lame do you gotta be to rely on your kids to win your battles."
Oddly mature.
They expected the crybaby omega from what Baji had told them multiple times, to well, cry and Draken had already instinctively reached out to console the boy but Takemichi barked out a laugh
"Yeah, but you'd be even more lame for being beaten by a pup!"
What a Baji-like response!
Then a light bulb collectively appeared above everyone else's head.
Baji was more mature around Takemichi because the omega was the nonsensical one in their relationship!
Kazutora couldn't stop laughing about it. He pointed at Baji, "Mama Baji!"
"Shut the hell up!"
All in all, it was a lasting memory for everyone down the road.
~~~
"Stop asking about Michi! I'm not bringing him around again, you hear me?!" Baji eventually blows up when he receives the same question everyday, an annoying amount of times a day.
"Then why did you let us meet him in the first place?" Kazutora whines, tugging on Baji's hair. "You have to, it's just unfair for your ugly ass to be around such a-"
"Ugly? You wanna talk about ugly?" Baji challenges with a vein popping on his forehead.
"I'm the prettiest one in this friend group," Kazutora shamelessly claims with his whole chest.
Everyone stares at him.
"Pfft," Mitsuya breaks the silence with a snicker.
"Not with that hair cut," Pah-chin crows.
"Fuck all of you," Kazutora hisses out while pulling on Baji's hair.
"I didn't even say shit! Let go!"
~~~
Compared to every one of his friends, Mikey was not all that interested in the omega. He was just some boy. And not all that interesting since he didn't know how to fight or have any other talents. It wasn't like he was going to stick around forever either with Toman since his presence was only once in a blue moon amongst their gang, due to Baji's protectiveness. However he'd still tag Takemichi to their tamer hang outs, the ones where they just relax and not worry about much else but having fun.
Then Takemichi just had to give him a wink during their trip to the arcade.
A very terrible wink.
His other eye had squinted alongside his winking eye so it was like he was blinking but his eyes were scrunched up and honestly, it was funny.
Mikey couldn't stop laughing. Every time Mikey glanced at the omega he chortled and the boy looked increasingly embarrassed.
Takemichi avoided him after that with an awkward grace but nobody else seemed to notice since it wasn't like they were particularly close. However after that Mikey sometimes glanced at the boy curiously, wondering why he'd winked in the first place when they didn't even exchange any words.
What was his intention?
"Hah?"
"I said your omega has a crush on me," Mikey says. It's what Shinichiro told him when he asked. The omega had tried to flirt with him. But it came out of nowhere.
Baji blinks a few times. "Was Draken standing next to you?"
"Yeah, so," Mikey says impatiently. It's the first time he dealt with this kind of situation. He also knew by now that Baji and Takemichi were only friends and had a more brotherly relationship than whatever else people seemed to believe. At this point calling Takemichi Baji's omega was more of an inside joke but also a label to distance himself from the omega. He just didn't care for anything involving Takemichi. Being Baji's friend is the only reason why Mikey paid the little attention he did in the first place.
The other alpha stares quietly at him before laughing and slapping him on the back. "Don't worry! The one Michi was trying to flirt with was Draken but you just happened to be in the way!"
'Just happened to be in the way.'
Such words should bring Mikey relief, right?
Well, why the hell is he so pissed off to hear them?
When Toman's next friendly gathering occurred, Mikey decided to snub the omega, feeling petty and vindictive. It's the younger boy's fault for being such a careless flirt. He should look exactly at who his target is and to make sure he's alone otherwise people will get the wrong idea.
'Take responsibility.'
In the end, he couldn't ignore the omega, he glared at him throughout, willing the boy to understand his frustrations, but Takemichi was too busy gazing at Draken like a lovesick fool.
Ugh.
Playboy omegas were the absolute worst! Mikey grits his teeth, not upset at all, nope.
But he may have gained a complex of sorts after that, in trying to get the omega to notice him in any possible way, and the more Takemichi paid attention to him, the better he felt. It probably hadn't been enough though since he soon resorted to figuratively pulling on the younger boy's pigtails.
"Yeah, I've totally foreseen something like this coming," Baji secretly admits to his other friends who watch the trainwreck that is Mikey trying to court an omega that he likes, by making Takemichi angry or upset to the point he that he actually cries or shouts at him.
A masochistic bully is what Mikey seemed to be.
This was one of the reasons why Baji had made sure Takemichi was as boring and bland as possible in front of Mikey.
Which had seriously backfired.
Like a lot.
~~~
"Go back to ignoring me please."
"..."
"You're the worst."
"..."
"Why do I even like you?"
"Wait, Takemitchy-"
Mikey is shaken out of his frozen state, his shock at seeing the omega's tears and heartbroken expression had rendered him speechless. But when the omega runs away from him, he naturally chases after the younger boy, a thrill to catch rises within him too.
("I'm both oddly proud and disappointed by this development," Draken confesses after a beat of silence.
"Yeah, but how the hell did he manage to pull that off?" Smiley asks a little impressed.
"Michi isn't stupid," Baji says gravely, crouching behind the bush with the other captains, "he's always been more perceptive of people's true intentions, but it still probably hurt a lot like hell to have Mikey treating him like that. Honestly, I was prepared to step in if it went too far. Mikey's lucky that Takemichi is forgiving."
"..."
"Mama Baji.
"Shut. Up.")
For the time being, after they've had their long soul searching talk, Mikey and Takemichi settle on being friends first before working their way to a romantic relationship. There's a lot that Takemichi is doubtul about but he still likes Mikey a lot.
"Take things slow and if it doesn't work out you can find a rebound in any other alpha since you have a harem of them," Baji helpfully tells Takemichi when he asks for advice.
"What?! What are you talking about? What harem! This isn't funny!"
~~~
Mikey isn't fazed anymore by the scene that plays out before them, disrupting the flow of the meeting. He doesn't blink an eye at all but wishes he had popcorn for the entertainment or perhaps even better, that he'd been the one standing in Baji's position right now. But at the same time not particularly. Because what Takemichi and Baji had was not enough for what Mikey personally wanted for himself.
Baji and Takemichi had an intimate, no boundaries kind of relationship that oftentimes it looked like they were a mated pair but they were nothing but friends. And Mikey was secure in that because Baji never faltered when Takemichi was in heat. He'd just sniff out the omega to see what stage of his heat he was in then pretty much coddle him like an overbearing mother hen. To the bafflement of others that aren't yet used to this sight.
"Kei-chan, my tummy hurts," Takemichi whines with a cute pout as he reaches out for Baji.
"I told you not to drink anything cold!" Baji shouts shaking the omega a little by the shoulders but then he frowns. "You shouldn't be outside looking like a bitch in heat."
"That's offensive, you knothead," Takemichi snaps with a scowl twisting his face, but he doesn't pull away from the alpha. Instead he leans in and places his forehead on Baji's shoulder as he grabs onto the back of his jacket. "Shit. Why the hell do you have the most attractive scent ever? Chocolate. How is that fair you shitty alpha."
Baji scoffs. "Says the one who smells like a damned snack. What if someone was hungry but then had to see your sorry ass instead of food-"
Case in point.
Rather than being smug or even affected in the slightest, Baji is too busy bickering with the omega who is giving off a not so discrete mating signal. Mikey manages to fight against his instincts.
"That's stupid," the omega huffs out a weary but fond laugh. "You're so stupid."
"Yeah, yeah, oi, Chifuyu, I'm taking this idiot back home, take over for me," Baji says briskly to his vice commander, who also doesn't look surprised by the unfolding scene, if he's been hanging around Baji long enough then of course he's aware of Takemichi. Of their dynamic. There's no hint of envy or suspicion at all on the boy's face.
He just looks determined. "Yes, Baji-san! Make sure Takemitchy has the best nest so he won't be lonely-"
Takemichi gives a little laugh, eyes alight and Mikey's heart aches, in a good way.
"Yeah, I know," Baji mutters, perhaps a bit sullenly. Probably because Chifuyu is too attentive towards the omega even when he's around. He's gotten used to being Chifuyu's main idol after all. But that in itself makes Mikey amused.
So Baji can feel jealously. That just goes to show that Takemichi isn't the one he wants to mate, you idiots, he thinks, because that misconception seems like it'll never fade for as long as Baji and Takemichi are friends- or well, single and mateless. (Not for long, though, since Mikey has a future planned out with the omega that he's hellbent on making a reality.)
But anyone can tell just by Baji's laid-back attitude when other alphas get close that he doesn't have any sort of romantic feelings for the omega. He's just a naturally possessive person, the same way Mikey is, so he can be a little rough when people hog Takemichi for too long.
Though, the various divisons under Toman all watch Baji and Takemichi with strange looks in the stupefied silence.
"Is that Baji-san's omega?" Someone mutters but it rings loudly because of how quiet their surroundings are. However this causes a little commotion to stir.
"Nothing about today leaks out," Draken completely shuts down any inquiries with a menacing look. It works. For now.
Soon, Mikey will make it so everyone asks if Takemichi is his omega, and he'll proudly say yes too.